By Katherine Bergman, Zeitgeist

Welcoming autumn’s arrival, contemporary music ensemble Zeitgeist will kick off its 2013-14 season with their annual New Music Harvest concert series. Pairing the best of new chamber music with some of Lowertown St. Paul’s finest cuisine, the concert features music from composers both near and far plus delectable dishes prepared by neighborhood restaurants.

The New Music Harvest offers Zeitgeist’s long-awaited performance of Israeli-American composer Shulamit Ran’s Apprehensions for soprano (featuring guest artist Carrie Henneman Shaw), clarinet, and piano. Apprehensions is a setting of Sylvia Plath’s poem by the same name, which is the first poem in her Winter Trees collection. Saturday’s performance of the work will be coupled by a pre-concert discussion of the Winter Trees collection with Twin Cities poet John Minczeski.

Other highlights include Nattsanger (Nightsongs), local composer Abbie Betinis’ song cycle on texts by Norwegian poet Rolf Jacobsen exploring the mysterious nature of the period of time from sunset to dawn; Duo for Cajon and Computer by Cort Lippe, which was commissioned in 2011 by Zeitgeist’s own Patti Cudd; and Echoes Fantasy for two pianos and two vibraphones by Iowa composer Christopher Hopkins.

Zeitgeist: New Music Harvest: Sept. 26-28, 7:30pm; Studio Z, 275 East Fourth Street; $10 Thursday and Friday, $20 Saturday fundraiser performance; click here to buy tickets